The Pastor said that if we become a Christian, it doesn’t mean we drive a Cadillac. But it does mean precisely that. I could buy a Cadillac, the pastor could buy a Cadillac, and most people in the congregation could secure a Cadillac of one form or another. Christianity and Cadillacs are inextricably linked. But I am guessing he was not meaning for us to take him literally, as literally as he takes scripture on occasion. But as a metaphor for wealth, the Cadillac is something which most of Christendom achieves by birth these days. In 1902 when Cadillac was formed from the remnants of Henry Ford’s first company, what we would consider junky old Cadillacs today, would have been unobtainable wealth. Each generation in America dreamed of one day owing such a status symbol, but as time went on they did achieve it. Of course the status symbol also moved to bigger and better things. But today your entry-level Ford can achieve things only the most expensive cars could a few years ago. The average person can buy a safe, reliable car that can go 100 mph. Of course there are a few stipulations to avoid debilitating poverty in the old U. S. of A. You have to finish High School, not have children before you get married, and get a job. Pretty easy, but that gets to the point; behavior has an effect on prosperity.
2011 Cadillac Ciel Concept
The sin of the Prosperity Gospel is not that they got the promise wrong, but that they applied the recipient individually rather than corporately. God promised he would bless his people, not that every person would always get what they want in every situation. It’s the American way. We Evangelicals almost have no concept of how God deals with his people corporately. We think it’s all about us, or rather me. Us would be an improvement. The other flaw in their understanding is their timetable. They expect it to be almost instant, again this is another fault inherent to Americans these days. But God’s promises take time. Abraham was promised that his descendants would out number the stars(it’s really too bad we think the New Earth will contain so few people, God says we won’t be able to count them)but it took almost 400 years until his people would enter the Promised Land.
We love sci-fi fantasies these days. But we don’t love them because they can take us to truth, we love them because we think they will allow us to escape from reality. We don’t want promises from God that require hard work and generations of faithfulness. 400 YEARS!? Who has the time? It would be much easier if God just swooped down and waved a magic want, cross shaped perhaps, and made everything right, sent us to rapture. But that’s just not what Scripture says. The blessings of God are not just theoretical or metaphysical.
God promised his people the land, but they had to fight for it, many people died fighting for it. They never saw the land, for them, where was the blessing? The blessing was for their children, and it was very real(twhink Oblivion or the Prestige). They really did get the land, most of it. It would have been easy for them to just give up and start saying that the promises were talking about a spiritual reality and not actual land. Which is not far from the truth. As Jesus found his people when he came to the earth; they were so delusional as to not even realize they were enslaved to the Romans(John 8:33). Because on some spiritual level they were better than any Romans. Jesus rebuked there theoretical dream world. And told them to take care of the actual poor, to actually be good people, to actually do good works, rather than just talking about it in theory. The way you behave on this real earth displays what is truly in your heart. You can’t just say you are a child of Abraham, you can’t just say you are a Christian, you have to prove it (John 8:39).
“What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” –Mark 11:24
And he told us what to pray for, what we should desire.
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
– Matthew 6:9-13
When was the last time you heard about a famine? How many people do you know who have had a problem with demon possession? Have you seen a time with more forgiveness? We even forgive murderers when we have their crime on six videos. I would argue that his will is being done on earth at a level never before seen. God didn’t put us on this earth to fall, but to rule and subdue it, to turn the garden into a city. And we have done, in ways totally unimaginable to the disciples of Jesus. Of course it’s not all perfect. But insofar as these things are not happening, it is our fault, the fault of the Church.
Many of these things probably sound strange to us, Evangelicals. We find comfort waiting for the rapture, thinking our only task is to ‘get people saved’. I was raised this way and followed it a little too closely, to my own detriment But this task is meant to be added to our other tasks. Just because Jesus tells us he is the Bread of Life doesn’t mean we stop growing wheat. God works out his promises here on earth by human agents the way he always has.
Christendom is the wealthiest thing going, it always has been. Of course there were ups and downs, but Rome was blown away by this community of people who could actually accomplish even their pagan ideals of citizenship and community. There are always lies told about Christians, because we play by the rules and are blessed by it, this leads to jealousy. But we shouldn’t throw in with the world criticizing our place here, because we think the persecution means we are closer to the early church. The gospel was to be preached to everyone, the Kingdom spread to every tongue and tribe and nation. We mistake exhortations to resist Roman persecution as proverbs for all times and peoples. Do you really think things are getting worse? You need to talk to your grandparents. Or perhaps they should give you a talking too. And it’s not just about you and your problems or even the past generations, look at the bigger picture.
What about ‘Christian’ South America? Of course there is no shortage of people claiming Christ, and not living it. The Catholic Church has a real problem with syncretism. Jesus says you will know them by their fruit. The fruit is real, the lack of fruit is real too. God created this world and gives us the rules because they are in harmony with the world he created. Don’t have sex with animals, because that’s where STD’s come from. Love one another, and be at peace and you can spend your efforts on things besides making IED’s, like going to the Moon. And so you can identify true Christianity by it’s fruit, on a large scale over an extended time. South American Catholicism doesn’t work. Neither does the Middle Eastern heresy of Muhammed. The interesting thing about Christianity is that Christ affected everything. Judaism was never the same after Christ appeared on the scene. Then he came back and wiped out the temple a few years later. Satan’s counterfeits were never the same, there have since been many anti-Christs. Muhammed admired the organizing ability of the Church and he wanted to use it much like Simon (Acts 8:9-24) so he mixed Christianity with his tribal Arab culture. This layer of Christian-proofing has resulted in a many very dark lands all but impenetrable by the light of the Gospel. But most of the Muslims I have met are themselves trying to live up to the Christian ideal. It has become standard in world politics and culture. Everyone wants to be like the west, except for a few who want to destroy it, even they indulge in it’s bounty. The West is the West because of all our ancestors who took the promises of Christ seriously. They lived a moral life, and used their leisure to explore and invent and discuss and think. And so now men can move mountains. Christ moved the temple mount into the valley of Gehenna, but we can move actual mountains, just drive over to Butte. We can also bring about his will on earth as it is in heaven. Every day, one decision at a time.
The problem with always comparing us to Rome is that Rome was not Christian. Christians may die but they come back from the dead. Christ conquered death. Rome was conquered, and was raised to newness of life under Christ. His Body the Church has been raising paganism and converting it to this day. If we continue to sit around and wait for something to happen while our nation continues to throw away it’s heritage an dembrace the darkness it will die, to be reborn. But it seems like an awful waste. I would rather we go on building. There are Cadillacs because there are Christians. Cadillacs are Christian. And I say keep them coming.